The influential Leinster and Ireland centre, Garry Ringrose, is locked and loaded for the two-Test series against the Springboks in South Africa.

Ringrose recently made his return to the field following a six-month injury layoff and following the URC semi-final against the Bulls he did enough to crack the nod for the Springbok series.

The player who is considered to be the next Brian O'Driscoll is expected to play a big part in the series and is one of the Irish dangermen.

Ringrose said being able to tackle the Springboks in an away series is first prize before the next Rugby World Cup.

“It's an unbelievably special opportunity to play against the back-to-back World Champions,” said Ringrose.

“Growing up and seeing New Zealand win World Cups, you admired and tried to copy in some ways those players, and then being on the receiving end of two South African teams, it's tough to take when you lose, but you kind of admire that they have done.”

The midfielder added that the tour will by no means be a walk in the park and they will have to be on top of their game if they are to create history in South Africa.

“They're unbelievably physical but that's almost a given, so you just have to be physically ready for the fight at every sort of contact, battle, but the intricacies to how they defend,” said Ringrose

“Then on attack, you see last week how dangerous they are, the individuals they have, how cohesive they looked at times in that Welsh game, even with a few new faces.

“The group seems to be pretty consistent, or a pretty consistent core over the last eight years. You need to be on it, across anything, to try to beat them.”

The first Test between the world champions and Ireland will be played on Saturday 6 July at Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria.

Morgan Piek OFM Sport